Awesome Moisturizing Bath Crystals

2 cups Sea salt
1 cup Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons baking soda
1 Tablespoon Glycerin
1/2 Teaspoon vitamin E oil
Essential Oils or fragrance oil

Mix all ingredients together well, add your Essential Oils (say 10 drops or so). Let the mixture firm up for about 3 days - or at least 2 days at the least. Now, just draw a warm bath, pour about 1/2 cup of these AWESOME Moisturizing Crystals into the running water, and enjoy! Or, pour into a clear fancy bottle, tie a fancy ribbon on the neck, and give as a gift!

MAKE A DEODORANT STICK:
Melt 2 tablespoons beeswax with 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil,
stirring until well blended. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoons each
of thyme essential oil, lavender essential oil and rosemary essential
oil. Pour into a suitable mold (an empty deodorant stick container is
ideal) and leave until set.

DEODORANT SPRAY
Use as many of the following as possible: witch hazel leaves, lavender
flowers, sage leaves, thyme leaves, mint leaves, rosemary leaves, eau
de cologne mint, yarrow flowers and leaves.

Cover with cider vinegar, bring to the boil, cool, strain. Add same
amount of water, rebottle. Dab under the arms several times a day.

hope you enjoy these!

Pam

Athlete Foot Scrub
Ingredients:

1 pounds Dead Sea salts
1/2 pound Epsom salts
1/2 cup borax
1/4 cup jojoba oil
1/8 cup vitamin E
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 pound grated unscented soap, natural or organic
1 1/2 tsp. glycerin
1 1/2 tsp lime essential oil
1/2 teaspoon ground lime peel
1/2 teaspoon orange peel, ground
1 teaspoons vitamin C powder

Simply combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Spoon into glass or decorative jars with tight fitting lid. Attach a pretty bow, with instructions (Scoop handful of Athlete Scrub Mix and gently massage feet, rinse and pat dry!) and give to your favorite athlete - whether the couch potato or the distance runner!

I just received 1/4 lb of the most wonderful vanilla beans!! Actually bought them off e-bay - but got the lead from one of the gals on our Yahoo Missouri Crafts Network newsgroup - and I love them! They were very inexpensive too! total cost for about 20 beans was about $12 or so - including shipping!!! If you’re interested - check out the ebay store - and tell her I sent you!

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Organic-Vanilla-Bean-Company

well worth the money! Now I’ve got Vanilla Sugar, Vanilla Tea, Vanilla infused oils … oh I coudl go on and on!
Pam

Anyone ever make sugar infused gifts? here’s some ideas
This is a very simple and easy to make gift for yourself - or for your favorite friend or relative! This only takes about 30 minutes to make and only 1-2 weeks to infuse before you give it away. Don’t have two weeks to wait? Just put instructions then on the jar that its best used after a certain date!

Herbal Sugar Gift

Ingredients:
3-4 sprigs of fresh herbs
2 cups of sugar
Gift jars of your choice

Fresh herb choices: lavender, mint, rosemary, thyme, sage or vanilla beans or herb of your choice.

Simply bruse the leaves gently by crushing them with a mortar and pestle or crumple them in your hands until you can smell the essence. Then just measure out 2 cups of sugar, add the sugar to the herbs (all the while stirring if you can).

After you have mixed it quite thoroughly, just pour the sugar mix into a decorative jar and allow to sit for at least 2-3 days. After the 2-3 days are up, stir the sugar again and repeat for about 2 weeks.

Wrap a pretty ribbon around the neck of the jar, put your label with instructions or recipes on it and viola! a wonderful, pretty, useful homemade gift!

Blessings ~ Pam

Natural Medicine Bag

Here is a basic ingredient for a natural medicine kit - for your home, your purse or your car. Avoid all those synthetic dyes and chemicals that are commonly found in OTC medicine kit ingredients.

Most of the ingredients below can be found in your local health food store or online in various places. But remember, these recommendations are not being offered as any type of medical advise or as a substitute for any medical recommendations given by your doctor. Any questions? Please consult your medical expert!

Essential Oils

To use essential oils for a topical use, just add a few drops to 1 tsp. of vegetable oil (or sweet almond oil or olive oil) and then swab the area; to use in aromatherapy, just put a drop or two of the essential oil on a cotton cloth or handkerchief and then sniff as desired.

Lavender essential oil
There are many types of Lavender, but the French and Bulgarian lavender oils are most commonly used. They are both anti-fungal, antibacterial, calming and relaxing.Try a few drops of this well known and versatile essential oil and enjoy the benefits!

Peppermint essential oil
Peppermint has many uses and I love the fresh aroma it offers. Its essence is recommended for easing migraines, to clear congestion; and to ease indigestion (1 drop in a glass of water or teaspoon of honey). To clear congestion and breathe more easily, just put a drop of essential oil of peppermint on the palms of your hands, rub together briskly and then inhale deeply - you’ll be breathing freely in seconds! Have a tummy ache? Just add a drop of peppermint to a glass of water (or a tsp of honey) and drink - it soothes your tummy quickly. I’ve even used it topically on the stomach of a horse I had that was colicing and she was better within 15 minutes (I also rubbed a drop on her gums). But if you do this - have a vet handy as you might not catch it as quickly as I did. For migraines or headaches, you can try put just a small drop on the tips of your fingers, rub them together briskly and then massage the temple area.

All-purpose Herbal Salve
Check out this popular all natural healing salve which can reduces the possibility of skin infection and may help reduce inflammation. It contains St Johns Wort, Calendula, Tea Tree Oil, Comfrey and Helichrysun Oil for pain.Check it out here at the Herbal Garden

You can also check out various other essential oils and products at our TLC Naturally store as well!

Blessings ~ Pam
Missouri Crafters

Now here’s a really neat gift idea! Easy to make and much appreciated by friends and family:

Ingredients:

Mason jars or decorative jars (usually found at 2nd hand stores or Wallyworld)
Dried herbs from your garden (or store)
Sea Salt

Just miss a combination of the dried herbs with salt and pour into jars. Decorate the jar and let it ’stew’ in the cupboard for a week or so before you give it to a family friend or loved one. There are a lot of various ideas of herbs or combinations you can use… from unusual spices/herbs to the more common ones that everyone knows about.

Simple, frugal and easy!

~Blessings and Health~
Pam

JOIN - Missouri Crafters
Networking Missouri Crafters Together
http://missouri-crafters.com
TLC Naturally
http://www.tlcnaturally.com

Another easy Salt Scrub … this one for gardeners, mechanics…or anyone that gets their hands grimey!

Ingredients needed:

COARSE sea salt
Grapeseed Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Olive Oil or a mix of  your favorite oils
Tea Tree Oil
Lavender Oil or Rosemary
Cute decorative jars

Fill your jar with about 4/5’s of salt, then add the mixed oils to just cover salt and stir well. Add a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender or rosemary oil and mix again. Cover the lid with a pretty top or ribbon and know that your friend or hubby or fellow gardener will surely appreciate your thoughtfulness!

~Blessings and Health~

Pam

JOIN - Missouri Crafters
Networking Missouri Crafters Together
http://missouri-crafters.com
TLC Naturally
http://www.tlcnaturally.com

Here’s a GREAT IDEA! Wrap your gift - ordinary or otherwise - with a piece of fabric or a dish towel - no fabric or dish towel? use the funny papers for the kids gifts! Or use a piece of paper bag and add a few neat looking stencils!

Got an idea? Let us know!

Pam

TLC Naturally - Essential Oils and Handcrafted Soaps

Awesome Beauty Cream recipe

So I had nothing better to do last night … even though I’m having 25 people over for THANKSGIVING!! so I decided to pull out some of my stash of exotic oils and decided to experiment. Boy am I glad I did!! What an awesome cream!

I took a glob of avocado oil, a glob of aloe butter and 3 globs of unrefined shea… warmed them up and simmered for about 10 mins, set it in the freezer for a few mins, whipped it up with my handy dandy stick blender and set it back in the freezer - did that a few more times till it started to whip up nicely - then added about 5 drops of tea tree oil to it…whipped that up then halved it and added black pepper oil to one half. I have the most AWESOME cream now!!! The one with black pepper oil is to massage into my joints, the other is for an all-over cream …. I’m not kidden..this stuff is awesome! Its not greasy (like the pure whipped shea) soaks into the skin within minutes and leaves the softest skin… like a baby’s butt! LOL … going to pass this one out to my sisters and mom at Thanksgiving!

Blessings!

Pam

JOIN - Missouri Crafters
Networking Missouri Crafters Together
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